To tell you the truth...

To tell you the truth, today I was not in the mood to go running. I had a long day at work and was in a bad mood. But, of course even when I don't want to run I know I need to- after all- I have a marathon to run in about 18 weeks and I have people counting on me to raise much needed $$.
Days like this are when my little bracelets come in handy. Its part of the Team in Training tradition to wear hospital bracelets with the names of your honorees. Right now I am wearing two and I will continue to wear them until my race day. One of them is for Max Herlehy (3 and a half- he has acute lymphocytes leukemia) and the other if for Jake Kimmel (He has Waldenstroms Macroglobulinrmia). Whenever I feel like I can't run, or that I'm having a hard day- I just look at my wrist and think about what is really important. It makes it a lot easier to make it that last mile in the 90+ heat.
I'll never forget my first swim practice on the triathlon team last year. I was talking to the fellow swimmers about why we were all doing a triathlon. I said that I was doing it because I wanted to meet people and get in shape. Then the guy next to us said that he was doing it because his 12 year old son, Alex was an honoree for Team in Training the year before. Sadly, Alex had lost his long battle with Leukemia. My teammate had promised his son that even though he couldn't be the doctor that found a cure- he would raise the money for the doctor that would find the cure.
That conversation plays in my head quite often. I think its one of those Oprah "Life Moments" she talks about. It really inspires me and reminds me of what is really important in life. And it helps me to keep running when I want to stop.